The Walking Dead Season 4 Spoilers: Better Conditions at the Prison

As we left our intrepid gang at the end of Season 3, they were welcoming a group of former Woodbury residents to the prison. But where are those newbies supposed to stay? Questions like that lead to behind-the-scenes issues for TWD production designer Grace Walker. Grace talked to AMC about some of the projects she’s working on for the new season, which premieres in October.

“We're trying to form better conditions for the survivors at the prison,” Grace said. “We figured because we had a lot more people coming in — like the people coming from Woodbury — that the cellblocks were starting to overflow, so we made more room for them. We had to have better shelter, and conditions where they can now eat outside.” (Like, patios and picnic tables? Maybe Daryl can host a BBQ and wear a “Kiss the Chef” apron.)

Grace also shared some of the tricks they’ve learned to make construction easier. “With the prison, the interiors have worked really well, as we go into them time and time again. We've got it down now where we can remove walls from the cells a lot faster than when we did the first episode there. The main block has 18 cells; nine below and nine above. And we can shoot in any of those cells and take out all the walls, including the rear walls on the second floor as well. We've got mobile towers that we quickly put in. We're just completing a new cellblock for this season, and it's looking almost better than the others. But like everything, we're not quite ready -- there's always a moment when we're nervous and trying to get things done. But we always do, and it looks great!”

So we’re getting at least one new cellblock this season. Grace also dished on something we almost got. “There was a very big shower set that we were going to build for the prison. And that never came off. But that doesn't happen that often; because of the time we have, we don't have time to shift things around.”